Partners Demonstrate Supersonic Research

Researchers at BASF, Harvard University, Yale University, and ETH Lausanne have developed a process for increasing the solubility of nanomaterial-based drugs. The team developed a microfluidic nebulizer to generate nanoparticles from drugs that are first dissolved in a solvent. To prevent crystals from forming during evaporation, the scientists expose the nanoparticles to a stream of air flowing at 600 meters per second—almost twice the speed of sound. “The high-speed airflow enables fast evaporation of the solvent, which leaves no time for the molecules to arrange themselves in the form of a crystal,” says Christian Holtze, research manager for BASF. “Molecules, therefore, arrange themselves randomly in an amorphous structure and are 10 times easier to dissolve.”